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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Easter 
Blessings 

Franklin Pierce Carrigan 

Lettered by Oswald Cooper 




Published by 

W A.Wildp Company 

Boston and Chicarip 

Zmu 



• /477r^3 



Copyright, 1911 
by W A.Wilde Company 



CCI.A27S977 



Dawn 7 



Easter Morning 9 

My Gift of Lilies 11 

The Divine Call ij 

Sundown 15 

Easter Evening 17 

Sunny Days 19 
God Bloss'Thee-Dear 21 

The Passing On 23 

The Aspon Tree 05 

Predestination 17 

Behold the Man 29 
Thp Assumption Lily 31 

Nicdit and Morn 33 



D 



awn 



b»k up to whore tho hills 
are flushed 
With dawn's red penciling 
Look up to whore an andel dpes 

On silver-flashing v^ngs-, 
look up to where the lark of morn 
Is soaring, whilst he sinds. 

Look up! the eiouds of yesterday 
Have vanished with the nicjjitv 
Like some sweet dream that 
follows toil 
The present pj-eets the sidht; 
Look up! the dawn of dawns has come 
In majesty and midjit. 



Easter MotnincL 

The bells in the steeples are 
sending 
Glad messages out on the air; 
For the night is ended forever, 

And the day breaks everywhere: 
O night that was long and lonely! 
O day that will know no care! 

Above the vibrant bell-music 
The perfumes of flowers rise — 

The incense from natures green altars, 
Ascending like truth to the skies : 

O incense sweet and prayer-breathing 
From hearts that adore and are 
wise! 

O hearts of the world that are many 

As stars in the heavens above! 
Christ wants you, and needs you, 
and seeks you 
In charity, pity and love: 
O hearts of the world He forgives you, 
And sends you his peace-oearing 
dove! 



My Gift of Lilies. 

I gathered the lilies from hillside and 
vale, 
• The beautiful lilies of Christ; 
And thought of the time when the 
angel of God 
Wth theMr^n held holiest tryst — 
The time in the mystical long ado 

That is olden and far away, 
But comes to all with its memoried 
charm 
To rijadden the Easter Day. 

I send you the beautiful lilies of 
Christ, 
The lilies of solace and light; 
And may their white chalices breathe 
you their peace 
At morning, at noontime, and night; 
And sift their sweet anther-dust over 
your dreams, 
To steep them in beauty &- shine — 
I send you the beautiful lilies o^ 
Christ 
The messengers of the Divine. 



The Divine Call 

I AM the Resurrection and die Life! 
The bread and water and the 
truth ye seek; 
I shall not give denial to thy wants, 
Nor be unmindful of thy many needs. 
The wheat and corn and every 

$owin$ thin&-— 
Yq&, een a thing so lowly as the $ass- 
Are part of that sweet food I offer thee: 
lam the Resurrection and the Life! 

Come unto me, my children whom 

I love — 
Be not afraid that I shall turn fromye; 
My love is vast, my arms will fold ye 

tidht, 
My kiss will cleanse thy being of unrest- 
I dwelt amongst ye, and I hnowEill well 
The conflict and the strife that is thy lot, 
Through all the days, and nights, and 

years I call. 
Gome unto me,my children whom How! 



Sundown 

I he sunset, like a smouldering 
forge 
In deepening shadows gjows, 
Upon the fields the evening star 

Its lambent splendor throws, 
And now the lovely Easter Day 
Is sinking to repose. 

The mellow deep-toned andplus 

Is pealing far away:, 
Come let us wander hand in hand 

Out in the dying day: 
The love that lives within our hearts 

Will teach us how to pray. 

'Tis-justa mile across the hills 

Unto the Gothic fane, 
That grandly lifts its spire of faith 

Above the misted main-- 
There Vieath the elms the blessed 

dead 
Througp toilless years have lain. 



Easter Evening^ 

he music of the or£an steals 
Adown the aisles in mellow peals. 
The anthem from the choir floats 
-*- From many silver-fluted throats. 
'Twere if a stream went murmuring by 
And birds were carolling on higfi, 
Whilst rose leaves floated through the air, 
And shed their redolence of prayer. 

The homeward path winds dusk between 
The wild^thorn hedries buddinri $reen, 
Then oer the star-bathed fields it £oes, 
Past orchards white with blossoms snows. 
W> do not speak — the silence holds 
A meahind that no speech unfolds: 
W& merely clasp each other's hand, 
That heart and neart may understand* 

O happy days of Eastertide! 
Wth us forevermore abide, 

And fill with kindliness and cheer 

The hearts of those who doubt £/fear. 
Thou art the sun-bathed, lilied shrine 
Of faith matured in love divine., 

The radiant portals open wide — 

O happy day of Eastertide! 



Sunny Days 

The days I spend with thee, 
dear friend, 
Are sunny days of pure delight 
That £leam like mile-stones onthemy, 
And mark the course of time's 
swift flight. 
Their dawns are crimsoned with 
the flush 
Of happiness that is to be; 
Their twilights hold the vanished suns 
That ray the bri^it futurity. 

The days I spend with thee, dear 
friend, 

Are free from turmoil, pain and 
care — 
A joy holds thrice its recompense 

If one we love its pleasure share. 
Qod made the world so beautiful, 

Oer-oanopied by heavens blue; 
And what it many hearts prove felse 

If one remains forever true? 



God BlessTTi€>€>,Dear 

GOD bless thee, dear! this 
Eastertide, 
Wherever thou may he; 
My thoughts $o out across the miles 

In tenderness to thee. 
I trust the OneWho rose to-day 

Will keep thee in His care, 
And flood thy lire with happiness, 
And drant thine every prayer. 

God bless thee, dear! — there are 
no words 

More eloquent than these 
Or friendships crystal pledge ol peace, 

Tliat knows no bitter lees. 
Thy kindliness and sympathy 

Have been a golden stair, 
That led me up ambition s slope 

And crowned me victor there. 



The Passing On 

I is right mesprinj&imo of the year 
*• Should claim Christ's passing on 
To that sweet Spirit-land of peace, 
That knows no sotting sun. 
I is right the flowers then should nil 
with perfume all the air; 
That tells throughout the world 
shoula rind 
Their melodies orprayer. 

Tis ridjit the soul should lond to 
tread 

The path the Saviour trod, 
Ano reel the cooling breezes steal 

Across the clovered sod. 
The thrush will sind so pleasantly 

Upon its wild-thorn nest, 
A melody or nope fulfilled — 

A threnody or rest. 



/\ spen tree, aspen tree, why So you 
/ \ quiver, 
JL \ And tremble and whisper sc\ 
On mountain and hillside, by roadway 
and river, 
When never a breeze doth blow? 
Why So you sigh as if you were 
weeping, 
Forsaken and unconsoled, 
When all of your kindred are happily 
sleeping 
Or waking to dayligfits dold? 

Far back in a time that is vague & olden 

As a pyramid covered with moss, 
My wood was axed till its sap dripped 
dolden, 

And they fashioned me into a ctoss 
Whereon the flesh of a King was riven, 

Whilst loved ones stood weeping by^ 
ButI feel when the dead of the world 
arefor&ven, 

I, too, shall be called on higfi. 



Predestination 

I T could not pass, it was to be. 
The $rief in fair Gethsemane, 
i \ The scourgjin^and the mocking cries 
^Ascending, to the pitying skies, 
The crown of thorns and dripping blood 
That stained the cross of aspen wood — 
It could not pass, it was to be. 
The adpny on Calvary! 

It cannot pass, it is to be, 
Each life must know Gethsemane, 
And tread alone the narrow way 
That leads from darkness into day, 
And wear the crown o^ cruel thorns, 
And bear the cross at many morns — 
It cannot pass, it is to be, 
Each life must bleed on Calvary! 

It will not pass, it is to be, 

The city by the sapphire sea. 
The lilied wand that all will hold 
lb ope the g^tos of jaspored dold. 

The greeting and the welcoming. 

Of myriad angels on the wind — 
It will not pass, it is to be, 
GoS s kingdom after Calvary! 



BeholcLtheMan! 

Behold the MANI^he world may 
well repeat-, 
This truly was a man in word and 
deed— . 
In pity, wisdom, majesty and love, 
True attributes that make the perfect man. 
"Behold the MAN!" calls out a mystic 

voice 
Like bells that peal in cadences of prayer, 
And Jo! our restless hearts are filled with 

peace, 
And reidns eternal love rbrevermore. 

Each thorn which circles that pale,humid 

brow 
Bespeaks the mute reproach of suffering 

man; 
Each tear which trembles in those yeamind 

eyes 
Has all the pity of a God Divine. 
No grief was cheater than the ^rief He 

No pain was sharper than the pain He felt; 
"Yet fell those words like rain in desert 
€€ lands: 

Fathervfordive; they know not what 
^ they doP 



Thp Assumption Lily 

[ ily bloom, lily bloom, shaped like 

a chalice, 
1 — J Glowing with anthers or gold, 
White as the marble of temple or palace, 
Or leaves of forgiveness scrolled. — 
Why are you veiled with the mystery 
and glory 
Of moonbeams &- sun-molded bars? 
Lily bloom, lily bloom, tell us your story, 
Wonderful, hidh as the stars. 

I was brought by fairest andel o^ 
rieaven 
To Nazareth lond ago, 
And unto beautiful Mary was $iven— 

An emblem of purity s snow. 
I lay on her breast when Calvary 

trembled 

■ At words of the dyind Christ-, 

111 plead for the dead of the world 

assembled 

The day of judgment tryst. 



Ni&ht and Morn 

I imned in the afterojow 

Three crosses of aspen rise* 
JL—> And bleeding &> thorn-crowned 

The Prince of fordjveness lies; 
And O the yeamindlove 

That turns in His dyind eyes! 

Over the dawn-flushed hills 
An andel is windmd low, 

As up the hillside path 
The sorrowing faithful dp. 

And by the riven tomb 
The andel waits in the plow. 

He Whom ye seek is dpne!" 
(( The andel of Heaven says — 
Gone in duise of the flesh, 
But thine in spirit always.- 
He Whom ye seek yell find 
At the endind of earth's days ! " 



m - 1 ' wfi 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



JAN T 1911 



